Thread by @je_light

NEXT UP: #5 seed Beaver (Rodentia: Castor canadensis) vs #13 seed Rakali (Rodentia: Hydromys chrysogaster). It's #TeamRodent vs #TeamRodent! #2019MMM

In Waterfalls Round 1, Beaver tail slap sent Mink circuitously for a muskrat meal. A poacher's gunshot took out Peccary & Rakali advanced #2019MMM

Beavers influence entire ecosystems, even in the face of wildfires. #ActualLivingScientist @EmilyFairfax reveals how busy Beavers engineer an ecosystem: #2019MMM

"Want to learn more about beavers? Check out Ben Goldfarb's book ""Eager
The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter"" (chelseagreen.com/product/eager/) & follow him on twitter @ben_a_goldfarb #2019MMM"

Although Australia is famous for its marsupials, eutherian mammals- RODENTS- arrived ~4 million years ago #TeamRodent pdfs.semanticscholar.org/9d49/3e8d28b14… #2019MMM

Rakali live a #TheLifeSemiAquatic & are often mistaken for the most well-known semiaquatic Australian mammal: one of our favorite monotremes, the #platypus (Watts & Aslin 1981) #2018MMM #2019MMM

Our battle tonight is in western Washington state, in the lands of the Tulalip Tribe, a sovereign nation with nearly 5,000 members (tulaliptribes-nsn.gov) #2019MMM

Researchers are actively reintroducting Beavers on these lands in hopes of improving ecosystem health, to include salmon recovery biographic.com/posts/sto/they… #2019MMM

Although the Rakali (6 stoats) & Beaver (90 stoats) are adapted for key activities in the water, they are also active out of the water #TheLifeSemiAquatic #StoatsAsMeasurement #2019MMM

Beavers come out of the water to mark their territories #YumCastoreum #beaverbutt. They also come out to fell trees to eat & to use to build & maintain their lodges & dams #ecosystemengineers. You can always tell when a Beaver is around. They leave signs like this #2019MMM

Rakali burrows are usually parallel to the banks of that water & Rakali will often hoard their food in their burrows. Our Rakali has just successfully captured a juvenile coho salmon #2019MMM

Rakali takes his captured fish to consume at a feeding midden so his body can warm up between hunts; his fur isn't insulated & he's feeling the chill (Dawson & Fanning 1981) jstor.org/stable/pdf/301… #2019MMM

As Rakali was hunting, Beaver was gnawing through the base of a medium-sized aspen tree. Beaver incisors are pretty impressive, specifically for this task #PlantCarnage #2019MMM

Rakali settles into his feeding midden, omnomnomnoming his fish, starting with its head #FishHeadsEatThemUpYum #2019MMM

Beaver is getting the last few gnaws in & the aspen tree is beginning to lean #2019MMM

Rakali tears into the fish belly when WHOMPF! #2019MMM

INCHES from Rakali, the tree topples into the water! #2019MMM

Beaver lumbers over & pushes tree into water to swim it over to his lodge, leaving the field of battle #2019MMM

RAKALI OUSTS BEAVER!!!! #2019MMM